A Mental, Physical and Emotional Challenge.

The Walk Across Kansas is 570 miles of unpredictable and ever-changing Kansas weather. Join Sandra Billinger, PT, PhD, FAHA, as she and her son Michael challenge themselves to walk across Kansas starting at the Colorado/Kansas state line (about 2 miles west of Coolidge, Kan.), and trek to the Kansas/Missouri border at KU Medical Center in Kansas City. The two will roughly follow the portion of the American Discovery Trail that cuts across the state. In Kansas, the American Discovery Trail follows the Sante Fe Trail. Dr. Billinger's walk across Kansas starts May 16 with a goal of reaching the eastern state line in 23 days – an average of about 25 miles per day. More about the walk

The Walk Across Kansas is both a personal and professional endeavor. A life-changing event led Dr. Billinger to travel from her hometown of Hays, Kan., to the Kansas City area eleven years ago. Her hope is for Walk Across Kansas to be the "first step" in helping move stroke research forward with the goal of improving recovery from the effects of stroke. Read the story

Our Goal

We know physical activity is good for our health, and benefits our heart, muscles and other parts of our cardiovascular system.
What we don't know is whether physical activity such as walking is beneficial for stroke recovery and – most importantly – does it help the brain recover from trauma?

Money raised from the Walk Across Kansas will support the initiation of an early physical activity program for stroke survivors at The University of Kansas Hospital and the purchase of new equipment allowing assessment of blood flow to the brain. Read more about the research

New research by Dr. Billinger's REACH lab team suggests that greater emphasis should be placed on increasing physical activity during a patient's hospital stay following an acute stroke.
Their findings were reported in the July issue of the Journal of Neurological Physical Therapy. Read story